I am so blessed with great parents, siblings, family, friends & scotties! Today I'm highlighting my appreciation of one of those special people in my life,
my FAIRY GODMOTHER, who just happens to be SALLY STRUTHERS.
You may know of Sally's Emmy and Golden Globe winning acting work in All in the Family or from the sitcom Still Standing, Gilmore Girls series, and others in addition to her stage work across the country not to mention her humanitarian work with Save the Children.
We met in a musical we did together many years ago and became fast friends. I began to visit her in L.A. and one day over lunch with her decided to move to California. We later drove across the country together from MN to CA and what began as a temporary place to stay (living with her) became my CA home for 5 years. Sally traveled for theater work a lot and having a responsible gal from the midwest helped her while I benefitted from a lovely home to live in. We had far too many adventures then can be shared here (possibly a book's worth) but after catching up with her last night for Mother's Day I've been reflecting on what a gift she is to me.
Sally became my "FAIRY GODMOTHER" years ago and I've called her that for a long time though I've never truly thought about what being my fairy godmother represents until today...
The fairy godmother is an interesting character in fairy tales.
Wikipedia calls her a magical fairy acting as a mentor or parent to someone. In Walt Disney's Cinderella the fairy godmother says she is the embodiment of Cinderella's hope (from Disney Wikipedia). Fairy godmother is optimistic and pure of heart, appearing when Cinderella was at her weakest.
While we were catching up last night, I shared that I have been watching GILMORE GIRLS (Sally played Babette in the series) and I LOVE IT!!! I missed out on it when it was on network television and the only episodes I was familiar with were those when I was on set with her.
Gilmore Girls is witty and fun. She was happy I was experiencing the whole series from the beginning. Sally said she thought I enjoyed it's clever banter by writer Amy Sherman-Palladino (who is a huge Dorothy Parker fan) because I'm "intelligent". That comment she made about me really hit me last night. I've had never before thought of myself as "intelligent"...
Sal was being my fairy godmother, once again. Her comment about me got me thinking of what I thought of myself when I lived in Los Angeles.
She always saw me as something I couldn't see myself as...
Sally saw the generosity, talent, beauty, and intelligence in me that I wasn't capable of seeing at the time.
Despite my low self worth, a health crisis and over a year spent in a wheel chair; that was how she saw me..
I was very hard on myself at the time, and believed nothing about myself or my actions was ever good enough. Journeying along through life since then, I treat myself very differently now. I try not to use harsh words toward myself and take it easier on me. I appreciate myself more and want to take better care of me.
My EPIPHANY today is that Sally is actually far more of a fairy godmother than I ever realized from just sort of lovingly/jokingly giving her that title in my life. She has always held the view of me in the way I hoped I could see myself. I viewed myself as my weakest self, worthless, in "rags".
She helped me begin the journey of opening my eyes to let go of that worthless illusion..
to see I am enough and have gifts to share...
that I'm actually already "dressed up and ready for the ball"...
Is there someone in your life that really sees you?
Who is your Fairy Godmother?
Their vision may be clearer than your own...
smashing that critical voice we all have that tells us we aren't enough
and opening our eyes to the amazing, gifted and fantastic person you truly are....
because you are..
Good Luck & Good Living!
Leave a comment and share a "Fairy Godmother" in your life...
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Photo at top by Sharon McCutcheon on Unsplash
